N is for Nobody
by Irenx
Summary: Caught in The World That Never Was, a new Nobody struggles to define herself amidst the twelve other apprentices sought out by Xemnas to train under the remaining Organization XIII members.
1. The Beginning

First KHII fic, I've tried to make things as unique and original as I can as well as put as many details as I can remember into them. My dreams are very vivid, but I have trouble remembering all of the little details.

* * *

Cold. That was the first thing she noticed. It was not a sharp, biting cold, but rather a faint chill to the air as though autumn was on its swift way to the land around her. Her body, oddly enough, was strangely numb, as though all her emotions and feelings had been chilled and eventually frozen by the sharp edge to the air. Though on any other day she would have been instantaneously disturbed and freaked out by this erratic turn of events, today this felt.. like home. Turning over with a slight groan of protest from stiff muscles, the second thing she noticed became apparently. A splash of cold water, minute in size but still noticeable, flecked against her nose. Rain pelted onto the surround surfaces from a grey, angsty sky, the light cool and silvery as it slipped through the rain clouds like delicate, dainty swallows amongst their feathered kin. Even as this thought slid from her conscious, the droplets began larger, though their frequency never changed, and she was reminded again of just how dreary and cold this world was.

It was then that she realized what she had thought a split second before standing; or attempting to stand, really, since all she had achieved was a crouch due to an intense headache that had cropped up. Disregarding that for the moment, she took the next logical route of thought. This place felt like home. Why was that? What did the tall skyscrapers, dreary, rain-filled streets, overcast skies, and foreboding castle hold for her? She had never been to this place, had never dreamed of it, had never even seen something that may have had an influence on what she was seeing at this point in time. Perhaps it all really _was_ just a dream, a figment of her imagination brought forth from reading a book right before going to sleep. Yup, that had to be it. Stupid of her to continue to do that, it only served to make her dreams even weirder than they already were. This... place was proof enough of that, with its spooky, looming presence. Still, this had to be the most realistic and vivid dream she'd ever had, even by her standards. Even the sidewalks and roads were perfect.

Hesitantly at first, for she was unwilling to become one of those ever cliché Hollywood females that _always_ walked right into the path of the monster or villain, she started off towards the castle. It seemed the best place to go, after all, structures like that were never built without reason, especially ones like the one currently looming over the rest of the town.. place.. thing. A huge monolith like that was made to resist countless ages of wear, the owners of it would not leave it unoccupied without a very, _very_ good reason. In fact, she doubted if such a fortress was even penetrable by humans. It was certainly formidable looking, so wouldn't the owners have an equally good defense set up to match such a hostile look? Shivering slightly, though her mind wondered why her body was reacting so fearfully when she did not feel scared, she continued at her slow pace, hazel eyes glancing about suspiciously in the shady alleyways.

It wasn't long before the first something had caught her eye, a flash of yellow flickering into life. Before she could get it into her sights, however, it had disappeared with a soft click, as if someone had pulled a trigger or lever. It only happened once, and had occurred so quickly, that she believed she had all but imagined it. Needless to say, she was quick to find a section of pipe from one of the alleyways that felt good in her hands, packing it over her shoulder as she continued to march along to some random tune. Before long, she had begun to sing Animals by Nickelback, anything to break the heavy silence only punctuated by the soft patter of raindrops. Out of reflex, she reached for her MP3 player, surprised to find that it was still there. For some reason, she hadn't expected it to be right where she had left it, though upon retrieving the device, she was bewildered to see that it wasn't her MP3 player. Or at least, it didn't _look_ like her MP3 player. Her's had been black with silver buttons and the battery cover was missing, but this one was silver with black buttons and a cover. Turning it on with utmost suspicion, fearing it was some twisted trick like the cassettes in the Saw movies. But when the device had booted up, she was surprised to see her music, all 173 tracks, present and accounted for. Once she had determined that nothing was wrong with her MP3 player, not counting the new battery cover and the slick new look, the head phones were cheerfully plugged in, the wires threaded on her shirt to protect it from the rain, and the "brain" of the device shoved back into her jean's, and the piano version of Those Who Fight was swiftly on its way to lightening the mood.

It came to be that because of this much more optimistic mood swing, she wasn't nearly as doubtful and wary of the next sight than she could have been. As she stared upwards at the gigantic, static-filled screen, the first thought that entered her mind was if the residents of this place watched the Super Bowl on that TV. It did look like a giant, high-definition, plasma screen TV, after all. The soft, gentle static noise coming from the skyscraper was soothing to her, a random jolt of memory shooting through her mind told her that the noise reminded her of the fan she kept in her room that was run in winter and summer, both to provide cool air and a calming sound that she could fall asleep to. As abruptly as the jolt had left, several more went in their place, fuzzy memories of people she should have felt attached to, but could not. Very confusing, her muddled mind managed to put together, the discomfort that had accompanied her "visions" leaving as the memories settled back into their proper places. Instead, another thought dashed about, demanding to be noticed. _Who am I? What am I?_, it wailed, running back and forth in a panic as it tried to find answers, but could not. Instead, a rather distanced thought struck her. How could it be panicked when she felt nothing related to that? Logic overruled this ironic statement, instead going back to the Who and What question. The who was answered readily enough, a name sparking to life as soon as she began to question herself. _Irenx.. _She was Irenx. The what was not answered and Irenx knew it would remain so for a while and was content with that, instead focusing her energy on walking off towards the castle once again at a steady, slow pace, neither hurried nor hampered.

* * *

'Remind me again why we're here in the rain watching some chick check our Memory's Skyscraper. Its really dull, you know? I mean, hell, sitting there listening to Xemnas blabber on and on about Kingdom Hearts is even more interesting than this.'

The owner of the voice glanced over at the person next to him, shifting slightly against the wall that currently served as his lounging post, arms crossed as his foot tapped impatiently, waiting for an answer. Geez, why did he always get stuck with this guy on missions? Didn't he have anything better to do than sulk about and watch for new kids? Like play Halo 3 or something the guy had always struck hi mas the video gamer type. He, himself, could name a hundred things more interesting than sitting her watching that girl inspect Memory's Skyscraper. What did she find so interesting about it anyway? He'd seen it hundreds of times, you could see it from most windows in the castle too, the usually static-filled screen didn't seem that interesting to him. Sighing, he glanced up the clouds, rewarded with several raindrops splattering against his sharp features, and scowled. He really hated days like this. The normal drizzle was all fine and well, but when it got to be full-out raining, it was just miserable. Good weather for Demyxs at least. A gloved hand reached up to tug his hood back down over his face, the water hitting it with soft taps on the sleek, waterproofed leather. When he was not answered by his silent companion, he opened his mouth to prod at the older man, but was silenced at the man spoke rather gruffly.

'Shaddup, Axel, there's another one. Soldier this time.', he growled drawing Axel's attention to the fact that he, indeed, had caused one of his laser guns to manifest itself and was currently honing in on a Heartless that was ready to appear. Finally, with a soft blip, as the silencers had been engaged on the gun, a crystalline, pinkish-purple laser shot out across the sky, its trail streaking faintly after it. On the ground, a heart sprouted form the ground, all but ignored by the girl as she whirled, pipe at ready, as she searched for a possibly imagined foes. Axel had to snicker. Man, oh man, this one was pretty unobservant with those headphones on. One more sucker to trick and pull pranks on; awesome. The current thirteen were getting a little boring. Was to be expected, of course, since it was terribly dull to pull the same pranks over and over. He was a little to lazy to go and look up more of them, after all. Pity, since he was so good at pulling them off. Ah well, he'd had someone new to get at it looked like. Pushing off from his perch, he stretched momentarily before eyeing the next set of buildings, green eyes half hooded. At last he turned to the sharp shooter.

'Hey, Xig, think the one two blocks down would be good?', he asked casually, pointing at one of the sky scrapers across the street and a ways down. Xigbar glanced at the building speculatively before drawling calmly, 'Naw, dude, I was thinking four blocks down 'cos then we could just watch her come towards us and then also have her go past us. Less effort, y'know?' Axel had started to debate further when without a word the other Nobody summoned a portal and stepped through, leaving just raindrops and air for the hot-headed pyro to argue with. Harrumphing grouchily, it always seemed like whenever he was spoiling for an argument and a battle everyone just walked off, he snapped his fingers loudly, not waiting for the portal to fully form before following his ally onto the other rooftop.

* * *

Ten songs and a half hour later, it seemed like she had been walking _forever_. Couldn't that stupid castle hurry up and get closer? It just sat there and loomed over her, daunting and distant, without a care for how she cursed it so in all its unwillingness to appear before her. Grumbling something unintelligible to herself, Irenx glanced about her person warily, pipe poised to knock something around. For the past few minutes, the feeling of being watched had only grown stronger and more persistent and it was beginning to grate on her already frayed and cracked nerves. It was like looking for something that was just out of sight, something that begged and called to you, but refused to manifest itself. Coupled with the fact she was thirsty, but had yet to find a clean pool of water, this made for one seriously irritated teen. Something told her that irritation added to her current mood would only lead to more ire and grumpiness so, with a determined stride, she marched towards one of the shop fronts, looking about for a place where the water had pooled. Back and forth she searched, at last finding a pool of water that had collected on some plastic that had long since been washed clean by the constant drizzle. Some would undoubtedly question the safety of drinking from it, but it seemed quite alright to Irenx. Lowering her head, she quickly sucked up the moisture, glancing about frequently like a hunted antelope, as though she were prey upon the savanna instead of a lost soul amongst this seemingly empty world. Once finished, she found her thirst slaked and her outlook in a much better stance. Her eyes darted towards the castle, mentally counting the number of blocks to go until she had finally reached it. From what she could see, it was only maybe five blocks left. Good, she was finally close to getting an answer to what she wanted to know.

Her pace quickened, seeing something ahead of her. But the rain continued to slap her face until she slowed, scowling up through water drenched bangs at the clouds. Her MP3 player had long since been put away to stay safe and dry within her pocket, she wasn't about to risk it being broken - despite her old one having gone through the wash once and surviving - so soon after getting an apparently revamped version of her old, dependable Nextar. While at first she hadn't minded the rain, it had only been a soft drizzle, it was now starting to really get going. She would have simply said "hmm, alright" and huddled underneath a roof had it been daytime, but now that darkness was truly falling, she was starting to get antsy. She never had and never would like nightfall unless she was in her own home where she knew what and where everything was. Out here in a strange, new world, she was feeling, or rather remembering, her subconscious told her, distinctly apprehensive. The patter of raindrops was soothing, but the chill was getting worse now and beneath the layer of gentle tapping, faint noises wrecked havoc upon her sensitive senses, adrenaline starting to pump through her veins to ready her for a threat. Irenx's grip on her pipe tightened minutely, eyes narrowed against the water and to see if she could discern any shape amongst the growing blackness.

Suddenly shaking her head quite firmly, she scolded herself round and round for being scared of things that didn't exist. Even this seemed to be more and more senseless as time went on, now hurrying to get to the next block, then shuffling along as she passed through a place cloaked in shadows. At last she reached what she had spotted, a clearing in the buildings that harkened to her like the light at the end of the tunnel. Hurrying out into the open space and away from the claustrophobia-inducing skyscrapers of the city, she skipped to a halt before the chasm that opened up before. She glared up at the so-close-yet-so-far-away castle, then down at the space separating her from it. She should have known. All good castles had huge ass motes, didn't they? After a few minutes of pondering, Irenx had concluded two things.

1) There was an invisible bridge across.  
2) There was no bridge at all.  
3) This was a weird dream.

Oh, wait, that was three things. Shrugging her shoulders, she picked up the nearest medium sized object and smirked. Time to test out theories one and two. Using a rock was definitely smarter than just running out across the expanse after all. Turning to face the chasm, she gave the rock a light toss, fully expecting it to hit against the bridge and bounce a bit. But as it reached the spot where she had expected it to land, it just kept falling and she rushed forward to watch its descent. Blinking nonchalantly, Irenx straightened and absentmindedly pushing her bangs back. Hm. Guess it was and even better idea to use a rock than she had originally thought. Even as she thought this, a voice behind her pointed that out also. 'Well, at least you didn't walk on it yourself.' Whirling with a ferocious expression on her face, Irenx's eyes widened as one of her back feet slipped off the edge. How cliché, her brain intoned, to fall just like one of those helpless females in the movie. Expression contorting into one of disgust, she threw her weight forward, landing on one knee, but swiftly rising to face the two masked figures.

The one on her left, the same one who had spoken before judging from his voice, 'Darn, I was hoping you'd be one of those damsels in distress. Would've been kind of nice to pull you up.' Irenx noted immeadiately from the tone of his voice that that was not so. Joy. How she _loved_ to deal with sarcasm that wasn't her own. Instead of voicing this though, she didn't have a chance to, she waited as the other spoke. 'Quit giving her shit, dude. Kinda my job.' Again her mind went to work decoding the voice. Older, definitely male, possibly someone who spent most of their time at the ocean hanging ten. The more lightly built, teenage sounding one seemed to give his friend a look of mock hatred, but was silenced as Surfer Dude continued. 'But y'know, Axel, that's off topic. Hey Chicklet, what's your name?', he called over to Irenx, hooded head cocking.

Bristling at being called "Chicklet", Irenx felt is was time to blow off some steam. Hands on hips in the classic "You're-about-to-get-your-ass-chewed-out" position, she raised herself to her full 5' 4"-ness and let loose. 'First of all, Mr. I-Surf-Too-Much-For-My-Own-Good, I am not a "chicklet". And that doubles for you, Sir Unruly. You're lucky that you were being sarcastic about the whole damsel in distress thing, otherwise you'd be finding out just how hard I can swing a piece of pipe like this. My name won't be given out until I know _your_ names and can actually see your faces. If _I'm_ going to sit here and be drenched, by god someone else needs to know just how miserable it is. And I'm _hungry_ and _thirsty_ and tired and cranky and ready to rip someone's balls out through their nostrils.', she seethed, glaring swords, not daggers, but swords, at the duo. What she wasn't expecting, however, was for Surfer Dude to stand there and _laugh_.

Upon seeing Irenx's Doomsday expression, however, he waved his hands at her, still shaking his head with concealed laughter. 'Naw, naw, don't go all Larxy on me, chicklet. Its just, if you looked more like him and were male, I'd think you were the little man. He glared at me like that too, didn't he, Axel?', he chuckled, elbowing his companion less than gently so that Axel scowled invisibly within his hood. Sighing and crossing his arms, Axel shook his head fondly, staring at his feet. When he spoke, his voice was saddened and almost..remorseful. 'Yep, that he did.', he mumbled, his mood swinging around like a woman on PMS. Not that Irenx could blame him; this "little man" person must have been very close to Axel. Loosing a best friend was never fun, so she could sympathize. However, she cleared her throat and said pointedly, 'Hoods.' For a moment, Surfer Dude stared at her blankly before sighing and muttering something that sounded like, "Yeah, yeah, whatever." Flipping back his hood with a single hand, Irenx could honestly say she hadn't been expecting someone looking like they had just walked out of Pirates of the Caribbean to underneath that hood. 'Name's Xigbar, kiddo, and don't stare. Makes ya look like a creep.', he said good naturedly, his one good eye, a bright yellow, closed half way as a huge yawn crossed his face.

Irenx waited a moment for Axel to introduce himself, but it didn't seem that the nobody was going to be inclined to share his name and appearance with her. Of course, Xigbar was more than happy to give Axel a swift kick to set him straight. Literally. One rubbed soled, black leather booted foot raised up with amazing flexibility for a man his age, Xigbar planted a firm kick onto Axel's rear, sending the teen stumbling a few feet before turning to snap irritably, 'Axel.' Jerking his hood back long enough for Irenx to get a look at his face before flicking it back up to hide from the rain, he spat, 'Got it memorized?' Xigbar rolled his eyes dismissively at his subordinate. 'He's a sourpuss when its raining like this, makes it worse when ya mention the "R-word" around him too. So, kiddo, what's your name?' She would have made another tirade about not being a kiddo, but Irenx decided against it and settled for being polite.

'I guess I'm Irenx.' She shrugged nonchalantly, and then started off with a rapid-fire series of questions. 'What is this place? Is this a weird ass dream or something? Where is _my_ MP3 player? What is the year? Why am I here? And why the hell do you guys get nice waterproof trench coats and _I_ have to be all sodden and chilled?' There was hundreds of others she could have asked along with those, but she tried to narrow it down to the main ones. To most people, those questions would seem irrelevant, but they all made perfect sense to Irenx, even if their order was a bit wacky. For a moment, the two males just stared at her, then Xigbar teased with great boredom, 'Those are more like somethin' you'd ask Zexion, but I guess I'll answer them. This is The World That Never Was, it is not a dream, I have no clue about your MP3 player, its September of 2008, you're here because you're a nobody and you're about to be assimilated, and we get them cos' we're cool like that. They're Organization XIII uniforms anyway, so we have to wear them on missions.' Axel held up a hand to stop the next outburst of questions and took it upon himself to explain the vague parts of Xigbar's answers.

'A Nobody is the body and soul of a person who has lost their heart to darkness. We lack hearts, so we can't feel emotions or anything. As for anything you were carrying when you became a Nobody, its morphed itself to fit the new you, as Marluxia would say. So that's probably why your MP3 player is different. Xigbar and I are here to take you to Xemnas, he's the one who has been giving us orders to keep an eye out for new Nobodies. So, the quicker you stop jabbering, the faster we get out this rain and the quicker you get answers.', he huffed, flickering sparks of emerald abruptly flashing in the darkness of his cloak. The glare was returned by the equally irate Irenx, her own hazel eyes meeting Axel's nearly neon green for a second before she looked away and up at the huge monolith above her.

Sighing heavily, she grumbled something about not reading before bed time and then, more loudly, 'Fine. I'll come with you both. It's not like I had a choice to begin with anyway.' Judging from the wide grin from Xigbar and the vaguely amused, but still grumpy air from Axel, Irenx knew she had been correct. Lovely. 'So..', she began hesitantly, 'when do we jet?' Blank stares were blank. 'What?', she asked, confusion coloring her voice. At length, Xigbar snorted, 'I can't believe you used the word "jet". But we leave..' Behind him, Irenx's interest immeadiately peaked by the event, a dark portal opened and began to swirl. '..right now. All you do is walk through it.' Bouncing over to survey the portal, she stuck her hand into it, eyes narrowing at the faintly tickling sensation before she flinched aside as Axel whisked past her and through the portal, creating a ripple-like effect in the otherwise glassy surface. Glancing back at Xigbar, who seemed to be waiting rather patiently, she slipped into the portal, finding the effect of all the darkness around her rather comforting actually. At least until one impatient Nobody decided she was taking too long to pass through it. A gloved hand grasped her wrist, Irenx immeadiately trying to jerk away out of reflex, but the grip was strong, but loose and once she noticed it was Axel, she relaxed slightly. He tugged at it gently, grumbling, 'You're slow, come on.' Rather grumpy, she still allowed the red-head to lead her out of the comforting, mothering darkness and into a room bright as new fallen snow.

With the air of one well used to the stark walls and sanitary feel of the place, Axel droned, 'Welcome to The Castle That Never Was. And no, you're not allowed to draw on the walls with sharpies.'


	2. Old Friends and New Rooms

**RECAP**

_" Glancing back at Xigbar, who seemed to be waiting rather patiently, she slipped into the portal, finding the effect of all the darkness around her rather comforting actually. At least until one impatient Nobody decided she was taking too long to pass through it. A gloved hand grasped her wrist, Irenx immediately trying to jerk away out of reflex, but the grip was strong, but loose and once she noticed it was Axel, she relaxed slightly. He tugged at it gently, grumbling, 'You're slow, come on.' Rather grumpy, she still allowed the red-head to lead her out of the comforting, mothering darkness and into a room bright as new fallen snow._

_With the air of one well used to the stark walls and sanitary feel of the place, Axel droned, 'Welcome to The Castle That Never Was. And no, you're not allowed to draw on the walls with sharpies.' "_

* * *

Once inside the castle, Irenx and Axel were forced to wait until Xigbar had sauntered his way out of the portal to accompany them. As it was, Axel wasn't thrilled to be going to the Superior's office in the first place. For one, it smelled like a raunchy mix of cheese, feet, and too much perfume. He could hardly stand it himself, so it gave him some measure of satisfaction to know that Zexion, with his super sniffer of doom, probably almost keeled over every time he had to walk into that room to give a report. He would have pitied Shorty if a) he had a heart and b) wasn't so.. Axel-ish. Neither of which were going to be happening any time soon. Oh well. Glancing at the wary, but curious female and the slouched, casually strolling Number II before him, he attempted a smooth escape around the next corner, but a drawling voice called him back.

'Y'know, Axel, I don't want to do this either, so unless you wanna be pinned by your ass onto the wall, you'll come along too.', pirate-like Xigbar called off handedly, the threat said with such casualness that you could almost believe he didn't mean it. Unfortunately for Axel, he certainly had no qualms about pinning the younger man on the castle wall by the seat of his pants. With a grumble that could have been a whine, Axel sulked back over to the other two, eyeing the door they were slowly approaching with growing apprehension. Demyx had always come running out of there like Cerberus was after him and while he didn't think that it would have such an adverse effect on him, there probably _was_ a good reason why no one, excluding Saïx of course, looked forward to having to deliver a report or message to their boss. Maybe it was the way he stared at you like he was about to molest you or simply the horrid stench of his room, but normal nobodies just did _not _like the place. Even the Dusks didn't enjoy going in there.

This held true for Irenx as well, her eyes narrowed as the first wisps of scent drifted out from under the door and into her nose. Eww! Didn't that guy use foot powder or something? Nasty. She had hoped that this door wasn't the one they were going to have to go through, but a quick, hopeful glance at her two guides slashed the hope to ribbons. Thankfully, they seemed to dread the entrance just as much as she did, so at least she wouldn't be suffering alone. 'Doesn't this guy know there's an invention called foot powder that keeps your feet from smelling rancid?', she finally piped, nodding pointedly at the door. Xigbar paused, hand inches from the doorknob, before bursting into laughter. Axel was much less exuberant than the Freeshooter, only letting out a small snort of laughter in response to Irenx's comment. A few seconds later, the door opened and a grumpy, white-haired Nobody peered out onto the three of them. Taking in the new nobody's appearance coldly, the man ordered harshly, 'Do share what joke you all seem to find so amusing.' Inconspicuously, Axel's foot scuffed over Irenx's and slight pressure eased onto her pinkie toe; a warning not to say a word about it.

Xigbar was swift to cover all their butts, an easy grin flying onto his face. 'As if we'd want to embarrass the poor newbie, Superior. She doesn't even get what she did that was so funny anyway. Poor kid.' Rolling his eyes, Xemnas apparently decided to let it go and instead address the issue at hand. 'Whatever, Number II. Bring her in and we will begin.' Stalking back to the seat behind his desk, the leader of Organization XIII sat down and summoned a Dusk. Axel and Xigbar uneasily went inside, Irenx following slowly, and chose chairs for themselves. Unlike the two who had accompanied her, Irenx sat straight and rather uncomfortably in her well-cushioned chair. Xigbar had promptly slouched into the chair, one leg sprawled over the left side and the rest of him curled comfortably into the back. The red headed pyro had flopped himself down across both arms, laying sideways on the chair before sneakily plugging one ear bud in so that he could half-way tune out the Superior. Xigbar had his eye patched turned towards Xemnas so that his good eye wasn't visible, but Irenx had a sneaky suspicion that he was going to have no problem sleeping away the lecture. Bastards, they just had to leave her to deal with this alone, didn't they?

Once everyone was settled down, she noticed that the Dusk he had been speaking to, or would it be thinking to?, had disappeared. Vaguely, she wondered why and where the weird looking thing had gone to. Her answer came in three precise, light knocks. Boredly, Xemnas yawned, 'Enter.' There was a soft click of the doorknob being turned and another Nobody entered through the door, his nose wrinkled with distaste for the odor. Almost immediately, he commented, 'Really, Superior, you should see to getting a good air freshener.' The voice was quiet, with a slight accent that was impossible for Irenx to place, something high class for sure though, and perfectly enunciated words. What really caught her off guard was the Nobody's appearance. If she had just eyeballed it, she would have said he would be hard pressed to come out taller than her. This was the truth, for the short Nobody found himself to be 5' 5" or somewhere around 165 centimeters if you preferred the metric system. And his hair – an odd, periwinkle blue that darkened to cobalt blue on the lower half, the same color his eyes were – caused her to raise her eyebrows in surprise. Things just got weirder and weirder around here.

Xemnas flapped his hand dismissively. 'That is beyond the point, Zexion. The topic is the one which we discussed during the last meeting – apprentices. If that damned Keyblade wielder comes back, we shall be better off with twice the number of us to finish him. If he finds a means to truly end our nonexistence, then it would also be better for us to have others to continue the Organization.', he continued nonchalantly, obviously ignoring the problem that Zexion had with the scent of his room. Finally growing impatient, Zexion made a "yes, yes, hurry up" gesture with his hands. When Xemnas didn't get the hint and continued rambling he sighed and said, 'Yes, I do recall that topic of discussion. I must assume that this nobody..' Here he stopped to glance at Irenx, his bangs flicked away from his eyes briefly so that he could see her fully, before continuing. '..is one of the apprentices that you have requested be found and brought to The World That Never Was?' Seeming rather pleased with himself, Xemnas straightened and puffed his chest out slightly. 'Indeed, you are correct, Number VI. This girl is one of them and needs to have her element checked, a room made that is connected to her mentor's, and thoroughly assimilated with Organization XIII.' A moment later her paused, glaring about the room, his irritation clear. 'And just where is Vexen? It is his job to orient the new members with their elements.', the Superior snapped. Irenx continued to lean against the back of her chair, contemplating how much more alike a PMSing woman Xemnas could get. She could see why everyone seemed to dread coming in here.

Zexion simply shook his head. 'He passed me muttering about some new experiment or another; I have no doubt that the Dusk you sent to summon us found itself unable to rouse Vexen from his lab.', he stated calmly, apparently unaffected by the enraged state of mind that Xemnas was swiftly approaching. At that specific point in time, a blond male who was hastily shucking off a thick lab apron staggered into the room, his hair lank with what must have been grease, throwing his lab coat onto the nearest unoccupied chair. Zexion seemed unfazed by this as well and Irenx thought she saw his nose twitch in what must have been a well concealed sniff. While her mind was whirling to try and figure out what was going on with the quiet book-worm, Xemnas rose and glared down at the slightly shorter Vexen with an icy glare to rival the ice element's own haunty stares. 'Wonderful moment to show up, Number IV. We were just discussing your absence when you finally decided to burst in. We have in our presence one of the apprentices I referred to last meeting and we require your expertise to define her element.', he purred, straightening so that he loomed even more over the lanky, seemingly unwashed mad scientist.

His voice spat with undue venom, Vexen hissed, 'Her? You're going to allow another female into the Organization after the storms Larxenne has caused?!' At these words, Irenx snapped out of her reverie and stood without a second thought. Her hazel eyes burned with remembered hate and spite, her back looking like someone had shoved a steel rod down it in place of bones. Quick, long steps brought her face to face with the Chilly Academic. If looks could kill, Vexen would've been six feet under by now. 'Excuse me, Sir Oily? Do I need to beat the sexist out of you?', she spat back at him, blood boiling by now. Taken aback by the response he had gotten from the headstrong female, different from Larxenne in the fact that he wasn't being attacked right now, Vexen took a small half step backwards. In fact, it seemed that everyone was quite interested to see how this would play out. Axel had turned off his iPod, Xigbar had woken up from his cat nap, Zexion's expression was more interested than bored, and even Xemnas seemed to have calmed down a little as someone else did the work of confronting Vexen for him.

Vexen's expression stayed shocked for only a split second, his expression soon clouding over into one of distaste that bordered on hate as he stared down at the upstart that dared to defy him, the Chilly Academic, Number IV! For a moment, he could do nothing but sputter his rage before he found his voice and snarled, 'Watch your tongue, cur, lest you find it pickled in one of my specimen jars!' Sarcasm mode coming out in full force, Irenx lifted her hands above her head and wiggled the fingers. 'Ooo, I'm _so_ scared, Vixen – I mean, Vexen. No! Not the pickle jars! Anything but that!', she said in mock horror, eyes widening comically. Complete with her hands clamped over her mouth, she looked the picture of innocent sarcasm. At these comments, Vexen's face paled rather than reddened, his rage only growing. In fact, his mouth had just opened to retort something when Xemnas finally motivated himself enough to curb the vicious tendencies the two seemed to have towards each other. 'Cease this bickering, children. Vexen, do just simply state her element so you can get back to your experiments.', his whimsical voice intoned, yellow eyes gazing with utmost boredom down at them both. Behind him, he would swear two small, twin sighs escaped from Axel and Xigbar's mouths as he intervened and prevented the fight from escalating.

The Academic's eyes narrowed, his upper lip curling slightly. 'Is it not obvious? With her mouthy tendencies and sarcasm, who else could her mentor be?', he growled. More than happy to put in her own two cents, Irenx's outburst was halted by a firm, serious look from Zexion as he caught her eye over Vexen's shoulder. Her mouth puckered and frowned. Stupid people, spoiling her perfect remarks. Vexen's cryptic answer seemed to irritate PMS man, for soon Vexen flinched slightly and muttered, 'Fire of course..' And so softly Irenx only just heard him, he added, '..you fool.' Whisking around, he snatched his lab coat from its resting place before briskly heading for the door. However, instead of walking back to his room, a portal appeared and he stepped through it with much haste, keen to go back to torturing whatever poor soul had fallen into his hands. Irenx turned and cocked her head at Xemnas as if to say, "and now what?" The Superior stared down at her and Irenx finally realized what his gaze and eyes reminded her of – a reptile. 'Your element is fire, therefore your mentor will be Axel.', he stated calmly before turning to give Axel a glance. 'And thus, Axel, you will be responsible for settling her in, having the Dusks add on a room connected to yours, and her training. Xigbar and Zexion, you two will consent to overseeing this as long as you do no acquire your own apprentices?' Receiving a polite nod form Zexion and a lazy "Yeah, I guess" from Xigbar, the matter was settled. 'Dismissed.', Xemnas finished, going back to seat himself at his desk.

The others took this as their cue to make a hasty exit, Zexion leaving via the door and Xigbar simply teleporting, space warping around him as he used his own powers instead of darkness to move about. Axel slouched out of his chair, stretching and yawning cheekily, obviously just procrastinating from getting out to further irritate his boss before finally strutting out the door way, not looking back or waiting for Irenx to follow. He didn't need to, of course, since she was more than sharp enough to know that he was the person more or less "in charge" of her, though she was sure she could figure things out quickly enough for herself. Of course, she added after a moment's thought, all the white walls would get confusing and disorienting after a while. When she had shut the door behind her, she looked up to see Axel was already about to round the first corner. Bajeebus, that guy could move when he wanted to! 'Hey! Hold up! I've got shorter legs than you!', she called, hurrying down the flight of stairs that led up to Xemnas' office. 'Well hurry up then, slow poke.', Sir Pyro called back, tapping the side of his leg impatiently. It didn't take long before Irenx had caught up, but even then, it seemed to slow for him. As it was, he settled for critiquing how she ran and even walked. 'You run too stiffly, you need to move fluidly, like water or, well, fire to be specific. And you don't need to hot-foot it like Zexy does, just kind of go with the flow.' Turning her head to face him, Irenx spewed forth her own criticism, 'So says he who struts instead of walks. You don't walk as graceful as a panther either, you know.' Axel cocked an eyebrow in response and immediately his gait shifted, becoming fluid and smooth like he was gliding instead of walking. Glaring at the challenge, the apprentice walked his movements for several moments before attempting to mimic his walking style. Unluckily for her, trying to take strides that required much longer legs than her's just made her look like she was trying to do a lunge walk instead of a smooth, sinuous glide. Turning to shoot daggers as the Cheshire Cat that grinned beside her, she huffed at him sullenly, 'Shut up, Lanky.' 'I didn't say anything, Shorty.', he answered with an even bigger, if that was possible, grin. They walked in silence the rest of the way, though occasionally, Irenx would hear him humming under his breath. Finally, she commented on one of the songs he was humming.

'NOOOOO! NO MORE WASHINGTON POST!', she wailed, covering her ears and singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" loudly. At this, Axel looked quite hurt. 'You mean you don't like Washington Post?', he asked sadly, green eyes upturning pathetically. Irenx glared at him thunderously, expression settling into one of pure malice. She approached him slowly, finally smacking his chest with the back of her hand hard enough to make him wince. When he stared down at her in utter bewilderment at her reaction, Irenx hissed, 'You got that damn song stuck in my head! That's the hundred and second time, counting my Somebody's memories, that I've had that stupid song stuck in my head.' She made a face and then began to sing it – full length, in key, and everything. After that, Axel made sure to sing different songs. Finally, he came to one of his personal favorites and Irenx was quick to pick up on what song it was and start singing the lyrics, even if she was a tad off key. The look she got was probably the most priceless thing she'd ever soon. 'You listen to Smashmouth?', Axel asked suspiciously. In response, Irenx sang cheerfully, 'You might as well be walkin' on the sun' He shook his head, but instead switched to singing along with her. Needless to say, the two received many odd looks from the other Organization members they passed, Saïx's look being the most disgruntled and annoyed.

The most surprising thing the happened, however, was when the music started playing. At first, it was just faint chords as whatever was making the music got warmed up. Then it got progressively louder, as if the volume on speakers were being gradually turned up. Axel simply grinned and kept singing, inspiring Irenx to do the same. Sometime during Walking On The Sun, she heard another guitar come in so that the music became a duet also. It was only when the song had finished that she noticed who had been playing the music. Across the hallway from them, a sitar wielding "rock star" was waving to them, his sitar bursting into bubbles and he bounced over towards them, swiftly poking Irenx in the stomach. 'Who's this, Axel?', the blond boy asked, his voice higher pitched than the other males' voices. Axel stared down at him for a second, then seemed to remember that Irenx and he had never met. 'Oh, right. Demyx, meet Irenx. Irenx, this is Demyx. Got it memorized?', he said by way of introduction. Demyx grinned cheerfully, his bright aqua eyes seemingly alight with happiness. If he hadn't been wearing that trademark black coat, she would have said that he was just a very optimist and happy teenager of around 16. 'Nice to meet you, Irenx! You and Axel sing pretty good, I was expecting him to be really off key, but you two sounded okay.', he chattered, bouncing his weight from one foot to another, apparently unable to keep still with his hyperactive energy. However, it wasn't Demyx's bouncing that finally caught Irenx's eye. It was a purple and red haired Nobody with a purple and blue sitar and blue eyes that finally caught her attention. When their eyes locked, all else became obsolete.

'SHANNOOOOOOOOOOOOON!' 'ERIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!' The screams were twin echoes of recognition and glee, the two Nobodies suddenly darting forward to each other, the water element's sitar bursting into star-shaped bubbles, until they collided with a massive impact, the two bouncing about and squealing with joy. Finally, their squealed gibberish done, the rapid-fire question and answering began. 'How did you get here, Shan?', Irenx chirped, hugging her friend more tightly. 'How did _I_ get here? How did _you_ get here?!', "Shannon" asked in disbelief, wriggling happily. Irenx shook her head. 'Bah, doesn't matter! You're here, I'm here, let's go cause chaos!', she cackled, the other teen snickering mischievously in response. Out of nowhere, another flying body tackled into them, the laughed, 'Group hug!', letting them know it was Demyx joining in on the reunion. A moment later, Axel appeared to ask them what the heck was going on. 'Uh, you two know each other or something?', he asked hesitantly, staring at the three-way hugfest. 'Yup, yup', "Shannon" explained, 'she and my Somebodies knew each other. Oh, and Erin, I go by Saxnnohn now. I heard Axel say your new name's Irenx, am I right?' Irenx nodded several times, now trying to wiggle her way free of Demyx and Saxnnohn's death grips. Several attempts later, she was finally free and chatting it up with them. The group had begun to mingle off towards Axel's room where the Dusks had already been busily working on adapting a section of the castle into a room for Irenx. (Apparently, Axel had used the time where Demyx, Irenx, and Saxnnohn had been hugging to order the Dusks to do this.)

After another flight of stairs and several corridors, they seemed to finally have reached the members' rooms. Along the walls, starting on the left side then going to the right, the rooms went VIII, IX, and X on one side and XIII, XII, and XI on the other. At the end of the hallway, a spiraling stairway led to the rooms of the upper numerals, I through VII. One room, Irenx noted, seemed to be unoccupied. It was the thirteenth room, the door's silver roman numerals tarnished from lack of care, and a small silver lock was in place upon the door. She remembered Axel and Xigbar talking about a member that had apparently left, so her mind instantly connected the two items. The member that had resided in that room, number XIII, was the same person that Axel missed so much. There was something to ask about later. A light click sounded from in front of her, fingers snapping in front of her eyes to bring the Nobody out of her reverie. 'C'mon, look alive there, Irenx,' Axel teased lightly. 'Wipe that drool off your chin and come on, I'm not going to hold this door all day, you know.' Sticking the tip of her tongue out childishly for a moment, she hustled through the door and into the room. Demyx and Saxnnohn had already made themselves at home and had seated themselves on the large bed. They both had their sitars out, so it was probably some sort of training. From what it looked like to Irenx, Saxnnohn was tuning her's. She then went on to absorb the look of the room. It was warm in it, almost too warm, with a plush carpet and dark burgundy walls. A large, arched window that the focus of attention on the south wall, the draperies black but partially open to allow some light into the room. The bed was a queen size at least, Irenx's size judgment was far from exceptional, with a bedspread bedecked with odd, pointy circle-looking weapons in varying sizes (she would later learn that the proper name for them were "chakrams"). The pillows were the same and it was tempting to not go test out the bed's comfortability, a new word she had made up on the spur of the moment, by sitting with Saxnnohn and Demyx. Along the walls at equal intervals, heatless flames glowed mildly in their brackets. The brackets seemed to be something akin to candle holders, but instead of a candle, a flame flickered there. The eastern wall held a large corkboard with various things tacked to it. Reminders, mission cards, keys – although to what she didn't know, folded up bits of papers that had obviously been read and reread many times, and, of course, photos. The pictures had come from a Polaroid camera and seemed to be on the moments you would label "priceless". Several of them were group photos, badly taken in most cases (it looked as though one of the people in the photograph had tried to take the picture by holding it away form everyone and then pointing it at the group and pressing the button), of Demyx, Axel, and a third Nobody she didn't recognize. Her mind swiftly connected the information, putting the face to the identity of "person-who-must-not-be-named-for-fear-of-Axel-getting-emo-and-sentimental". The north wall contained the bed, so last she peered at the western wall, noting the single door it held.

Catching the glance she gave him, Axel nodded that yes it was, indeed, her bedroom. Swiftly making her way over to the door, she turned the knob and bounced right in. She had been expecting the bedroom to be nicely furnished already, but what she saw was just the opposite. Currently, the bedroom was just an empty, white box. While she was staring in disbelief at her room, another of the probably boneless Dusks approached her in their weird way of walk, a fingerless and belted hand coming up to try and touch her forehead. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the Dusk, she smacked it away, hopping to the side. To her surprise, it gave her a tolerant, reproachful look – could they even give looks since they didn't have eyes? – before its zippered mouth opened. Thinking it was going to bite her or something, Irenx took another step backward, muscles tensing to dart back out of the room ASAP. Instead, stately words filled her mind. Not a voice per say, but more words that she hear with a voice. It was odd and difficult to describe really. It was almost like all the sound and thought had been momentarily blocked whilst the Dusk "spoke".

_I am here to assist in the creation of your room, my liege. Please do not resist._

She swore she could hear her jaw hit the floor, eyes staring blankly at the lower Nobody that waited patiently for her reply. 'Err.. What?', she asked after a half a minute of blank staring. She was saved from more of the odd way of speaking the lower Nobodies had by a curious Demyx who had gotten bored with waiting. Spotting him bound into the room, no doubt soon to be followed by the rest of the gang, Irenx started to point at her "assistant" just as Demyx began to explain. 'They make your room based on your thoughts. Once they have access to all your memories and subconscious feelings from both you and your Somebody, they create the room to your perfection standards. Even if you don't know what the perfect room for you would be, they're able to piece all the information together to make it perfect. That's why it was trying to touch your forehead.' Her stare first went to the patient Dusk, to Demyx, then to the blank walls of her room, and back to Demyx and the Dusk. 'So basically I let him.. her..', she paused and turned to the Dusk, utterly confused. 'Uh, what gender do you identify with?', she asked it. It seemed rather taken aback or confused by the question, but at last it answered.

_I have never been asked that by one of you, liege, but I identify with male._

Irenx nodded when this finished and continued rechecking her answers. 'So I let him touch my forehead and BAM! I've got a spifferific new room?' Again grinned, Demyx nodded twice. 'Yup, yup. Have fun!', he called over his shoulder, already starting to skip back into Axel's room. Left once again to complete her room, Irenx glanced at the Dusk who swayed contentedly, awaiting her permission to continue. 'Um, go ahead?', she said uncertainly, turning it into more of a question than a command. Sidling up to her, the Dusk again raised its spindly arm laying its belted hand upon the apprentice's brow. For a moment, Irenx felt nothing. Then a cool, emotionless presence filled her mind, gently touching upon all contained within her mind. There was a brief flash of bright light and intense heat before the touch upon her forehead vanished and the light become comfortably dim again. Her eyes flickered open, darting around the transformed room.

The walls had been changed to a pleasing shading of darker blue with blue-grey trim. Two arched windows let in the grey light of the World That Never Was, the curtains being the same color as the trim. Softly glowing orbs, they resembled the souls one could find in the Underworld, hovered in frosted glass shades, the glass being a very pale and delicate blue. Overhead, a chandelier made of the same type of lights floated, delicate chains holding onto several glowing orbs that dangled beneath the main frame of it. The bed was queen sized with blue-black covers with a silver, red-silver, and blue-silver phoenix that was rising from a bed of flames. Embers danced about it and the light from the glows seemed to make the whole thing shimmer as if it were alive. While the window was also on the southern wall, the bed was tucked into the northwestern corner, a strategic location so that the brighter light would not wake her in the morning, and a magnetic bulletin board was placed on the eastern wall by a black, minimalistic bookshelf that was as of yet unfilled with books. On the northern wall on the right side of the door there was a long silk painting of bamboo, the brush painting well done and beautiful. On the eastern side of the bedroom there was a small loveseat that tempted her to just curl into it with her MP3 player, a good book or DS game, and spend the whole day being lazy. On the low bamboo table below the bulletin board, she noticed her DS. It looked the same as before, but now a small keychain-like thing dangled off the top that was specially designed for that purpose. The ornament was a card that looked like an elongated, three-pointed crown. It faded from aqua at the bottom right corner to navy at the top left corner. Bright silver lines ran around the outline a little ways in ward and a stylized heart whose ends curled inwards decorated the center of the card. It could have looked out of place being attached to the crimson and black DS Lite, but she figured it looked pretty good on the device. Yawning suddenly, she realized just how worn out she felt. Right about now, her bed looked really comfy. Wandering over to it, a desk suddenly materialized beside the bed, complete with radio and a fan. With a jolt, she noticed it was identical to the one she remembered having as a Somebody. Grinning, she flicked the setting to low, allowing the comforting noise to soothe away the rest of the noises in the World That Never Was. Only bothering to shuck off her shoes, Irenx clambered into bed, snuggling down into her blankets and pillows. A few minutes later and her breathing had evened out, a few after that and it had deepened as she drifted into deep sleep.

Almost silently, a tall, slender figure slipped into the bedroom. Axel's mouth opened as he began to ask what was taking her so long to make her room, but it closed swiftly as he noticed the snoozing figure curled in her bed. At the sight of Irenx sleeping, his almond shaped and slanted green eyes half-closed, a slight smile pulling at the edges of his mouth. Why was it that Nobodies always looked most peaceful and content while asleep? Turning, he stepped back into his own room and shut the door quietly. The confused glances of Saxnnohn and Demyx faded as he answered, 'Sleeping', to the unspoken question. Without a word, they went back to what they had been doing before hand. In this case, it was playing the Wii that Axel had snuck out of Luxord's room. With any luck, he would be too preoccupied with winning Xemnas' munny to notice the loss any time soon.


	3. WAAAAAALMART!

**RECAP**

" _Only bothering to shuck off her shoes, Irenx clambered into bed, snuggling down into her blankets and pillows. A few minutes later and her breathing had evened out, a few after that and it had deepened as she drifted into deep sleep... "_

* * *

Down in the "den" for the Organization, the whole group seemed to have assembled for a belated breakfast. It was Saturday, not that it really mattered when you had no school or work, and the tradition of sleeping in on weekends seemed to have carried over even to the Nobodies' nonexistence. A sleepy Axel flopped gracelessly across the portion of the table in front of him, consistently yawning as his neon green eyes flickered lazily over the other organization members. All in all, it was a peaceful morning, Zexion was reading a book quietly, Demyx was scribbling busily at a sheet of lined composition paper in an attempt to finish his latest song, Xemnas sat quietly nursing a cup of hot tea, Luxord and Xigbar had begun a half-hearted (no pun intended) game of Rummy, Larxenne and Marluxia gossiped together in their normal twittery way, Xaldin was reading his paper (Hollow Bastion's, oddly enough, as it seemed he liked to keep up with his home world's events), Vexen was ravenously devouring some weird concoction of his before readying to dart back down to his lab, Lexaeus was eating a bagel near where Zexion sat, and Saix was watching them all much as Axel was, except with a vague air of superiority. Besides the original... twelve, one out of two new apprentices was present. Saxnnohn sat strumming a few quiet notes on her sitar, which strongly resembled a metal head's guitar rather than a sitar, and trying to master a little more control over her element. A small bowl of water sat before her, the look of fierce concentration on her face clearly showing she was trying to get the water to do more than just bounce about happily.

There was something he would need to ask Xigbar later – why were the apprentices having so much difficulty in mastering their powers? It had been like breathing to him; there had been no thought involved when it came to summoning his chakrams and controlling fire. It was a mystery to him why the newest Organization members were barely able to summon their weapons let alone control their elements. Come to think of it, he didn't even know if Irenx could do that much. It was definitely something to pursue and research. It almost scared him to think that he was going to research the damn question. That's how bad he wanted to know the answer to it. He was just about to utter a muffled sigh when seemingly out of nowhere, Xemnas addressed him. That guy just had a knack for sensing when someone was over thinking a problem. Not that his "intervention" was always the best solution. Most of the time he just made it worse.

'Axel, where is the new one? Irenx, was her name not?', the smooth voice came undulating out, yellow reptilian-like eyes gazing dispassionately at the slouched pyro. For a moment Axel didn't answer him and he tapped his fingers slowly, the movement resembling the legs of a large tarantula in motion, upon the hard, polished surface of the silver table. Even then the red head did not speak and though Xemnas knew it was just a ruse to make his kettle boil, so to speak, he couldn't help but feel faint tracings of irritation start to rise to the surface. It was almost as though Axel had his limit down precisely to the last second, as just as he was about to berate the sarcastic, younger Nobody he finally answered him. 'Still sleeping I bet. She was out like a light last night,' he yawned casually, having no difficulty in pretending that he wasn't much the Superior's buttons just as much as he could. Like hell Axel didn't just _wait _for the time he would be able to spend annoying him. Great. Now his sarcasm was rubbing off on him. Just what he needed. A little more sharply than was perhaps necessary, Xemnas snapped irritably, 'Well then go wake her up, its almost noon. There are several issues that need attending to.' Rolling his eyes, Axel scooted his chair backwards, the legs producing a dull scrape as it moved unwillingly away from the table. Refusing to give the pyro the pleasure of knowing his got on his nerves by scowling at him, the Superior went back to sipping his tea.

No one really noticed the red head leave the den, Luxord barely glanced at the retreating figure before returning to his game of cards and Saix didn't so much as quiver at the sound of the door shutting, but soon, very soon, they would learn that the ritualistic waking up of Irenx usually heralded a much different sort of event. In Japan, they might call it kaosu. In Indonesia, ekacauan. In Germany, perhaps warboel would be its name. But in this world, it would simply be known as pure and utter chaos.

* * *

Flying up the stairs at brisk pace, Axel ran swiftly over his plans. Waking Irenx up was inconsequential, but what he really needed answered was why the apprentices were so powerless. Perhaps their power simply wasn't fully developed. Perhaps it had something to do with their mentors. Perhaps is was something else entirely. And the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that the "something else entirely" was the reason behind their weakness. He had arrived shortly before Demyx and the other, and judging from them, they had experienced no trouble with their powers either. For him, his flowing style of fighting came naturally. Demyx had automatically begun to compose with his magic and to play with water. Luxord had always shown to be adept at playing card games. Marluxia had the biggest green thumb in the entire world right from the get go. Larxenne had always been the bitch queen and had happily proven it with her kunai. Axel was pretty sure his buttock still tingled with electricity from the only time he'd been stupid enough to hit on her. And.. And Roxas had always shown his mastery of the Keyblade.

That thought hurt and he swiftly went on with the chain of thoughts rather than relinquishing himself to memories. So far, no other Nobodies had shown to need to develop their powers farther than learning new skills and abilities to use with them. These two new girls, they were certainly the black sheep of the Organization. Hah. As if they _all _weren't black sheep. So did that make Irenx and Saxnnohn the _white_ sheep of Organization XII? The normal ones? An interesting question and one that occupied his thoughts until he finally reached the rooms of the higher, or would it be lower since they were considered inferior to numbers VI and under?, and headed towards the door marked with VIII. As he reached for the doorknob, the Nobody noted that he would need to polish the golden, Roman numerals soon. They had begun to loose their luster a little and knowing how nitpicky Xemnas was about that sort of thing, he was bound to get chewed out over it if it wasn't fixed soon. Bloody perfectionist. As if he needed to make their nonexistence even more enjoyable.

The gold handle turning with well-oiled smoothness, he entered his room calmly, shutting the door quietly behind him and pausing to collect a few things from his bed side table. First, foremost, and most importantly, was his iPod. His lovely, music-filled, video containing, happiness inducing, Xemnas-blocking iPod. Sweet Kingdom Hearts, how he loved it. Not that he could actually _love_ it without a heart, but you get the picture. The life-giving device was slipped into the carefully hidden pocket, tucked away on the inside of his coat's left side's.. hood flap.. thingy. He though it was called a lapel, but then again, Axel had never and would never find use for the information, so it kind of all just went to mush in his head. Oh well, another thing to bug Luxord and Zexion about. Only slightly less lovely that his iPod, was the sleek black DS with chakram decals printed across the cover that was swiftly pocketed into one of his other hidden pockets (these ones not truly being hidden, but instead covered by his trench coat) that happened to be his pants pocket. Along with the DS, a small case that carried several games for it was added to the stash. Last thing for him to get, or rather check, was the bulletin board that hung on one side of his wall. Naturally, it was enchanted so that all the Superior had to do was address mission cards to them and it would be delivered straight to that member. Thankfully, no cards were present and so that left him free to do as he pleased for the rest of the day. A quick glance at the right hand side of the board made the Nobody grin wickedly. A faded black eye patch hung jauntily from a tack there. Apparently, Xigbar still hadn't noticed that his spare eye patch was missing. With any luck, he'd notice while Axel was out and about and thus give him time to skedaddle.

Sighing as loudly as he could in hopes that it would wake Irenx so he wouldn't have to, Axel paused hopefully for a moment, listening for sounds of rustling fabric, before heading towards the door. He _really_ hoped she was a morning person. Last time he had to wake a new member up because Xemnas was in a pissy mood he got screamed at, slapped, kicked, and sharp, deadly kunai thrown at him. Stupid Larxenne. She had never forgiven him for that either. It wasn't like he _wanted_ to get up at 6AM to kick her out of bed anyway. He would've been perfectly happy to wait until a _decent_ time to get up out of bed and start the day. Like 8AM at the earliest; and even that was pushing it. 9 or 10AM would be even better. Plenty of time to sleep in then. But noooo, Xemnas just _had_ to make him, didn't he? Grumping quietly to himself, he practically kicked the door open so loud was his entrance. He immediately spotted the vulnerable, prone, still sleeping form of the newest addition, her mahogany hair knotted into laughable rat's nests. His bed head wasn't much better, but it never ceased to amuse him when another person had it that bad. It struck a funny cord in him for some reason – always had and always would. Huffing at the lack of response, he started off cheerfully, 'Come on, Irenx. Mansex wants to talk and its already almost noon. You've slept long enough, don't you think? Get up already, I don't want to have to come be an asshole to get you out of bed.'

Then he noticed the movement, the tensing as if a viper was coiling into readiness to spring. With a swift, purely instinctual swing, an arm reached out for the nearest heavy thing, this happening to be a malamute-looking stuffed beanie baby (His name was Nanook.) and flung it at Axel's head. With a heavy thud, the dog nailed him in the temple, bringing a look of pain and shock to the red head's face. As if a zombie rising from the grave, a very terrifyingly angry Nobody rose from her covers just as Axel snorted, 'You still sleep with stuffed animals?' The next moments seemed to slow for Irenx; her imagined rage flared brightly, his mind automatically reaching out and calling something to her. What it was she was calling to her, she knew not. There had always been a few times in her life when she had felt like this; like some great change was almost within her grasp, but far enough away that she couldn't quite reach. She didn't expect this time to be any different, but when a comforting, sure weight fit to her searching hand, she didn't question it - she'd hadn't realized she had raised her right hand in the first place. With a swing executed with the easiest of movements, she hurled whatever object she had caught at his face, enjoying the yelp of surprise and alarm as he ducked away from the hurtling object. Tripping over Irenx's tennis shoe that lurked behind he ankle, he flopped backwards onto the floor with a light thump of displaced air. Spinning rapidly in a steep parabola, the slung object returned faithfully to Irenx's hand, the female Nobody catching it easily as she slid off her bed to confront the intruder. A second circular weapon formed in her left hand as she stalked the pace or two before squatting down in front of Axel, jabbing one her armaments to his face. Her eyes mere slits of hazel hate, she snarled gutturally at him, 'Shut. The. . Up.' Judging from the circles under her eyes, the eye crusties still lingering at the corners of her eyes, and her reaction to her rude awakening, Axel knew she was most definitely not a morning person.

At least she had been able to summon her chakrams and, though the aim was a little off, had shown enough spirit (or irritation) to fling them at his spiky, hedgehog-like head. With a grin, he stated cheekily, 'Nice chakrams.' Before he could be further thrashed for speaking again, a portal of darkness swallowed him, transporting the "Wanted Man" safely away from the bounty hunter. Muttering foul words under her breath, Irenx stomped back to bed, though not before snatching up her precious Nanook, and burrowed under the covers despite knowing she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Kingdom Hearts! How she _HATED_ rude awakenings. Xemnas would have hell to pay for this. Axel too. Bastards. With a groan, she snuggled more underneath the comfy, warm sanctuary, though she continued to contemplate just getting up. Not that she remembered to get anywhere in this maze of white tunnels. They needed floor plans to get to new members.

* * *

Needless to say, when Axel hightailed it into the kitchen as though said place contained Kingdom Hearts, more than one or two Nobodies took notice. Nearly jumping into his seat as if it would provide protection against the curse he had awoken, Xigbar was first to comment on his behavior. 'Dude, why the hell are you skittering about like some cat that's been scalded?', he yawned with a false sense of boredom. Zexion was next to speak, something the others seemed to find amazing, 'I must agree with Xigbar, your entire body smells of fear and adrenaline. What stressed you?' For a moment, Axel just shook his head slowly, staring at the tabletop. Saix gave him a dirty look, his hair flaring a bit at the annoyance he was providing. Several others gave him irritated glances also, no doubt wishing he would just get on with it. At the end of his long, suspenseful paused, however, he seemed to find him voice and shuddered. 'Never wake Irenx up loudly. She's scary.', he whined. Xemnas rolled his eyes dismissively. 'Please, Axel, do just go perform your job instead of making up horror stories of why you were unable to complete it.' Zexion sighed quietly, 'Superior, I would be against saying such to him. He may be able to lie well, but he cannot alter his body and mind's smell.' When Xemnas' harsh glare descended onto him, the short Nobody held it without blinking, at last seeming to win the argument. Xemnas' look faded back into its default, uncaring one and he turned back to the issue at hand. 'Very well. We shall allow her to awaken by her own this once. However, she will need guidance to reach the kitchen.', he intoned solemnly. This seemed to be the call for volunteers, but no one dared risk their fate to steer this new horror into the den/kitchen. Finally, a chorus of "we will!" erupted from Demyx and Saxnnohn. With a brief hand flap of acknowledgement, the two water elementals were up and running, both their sitars disappearing with a spray of bubbles as they dismissed them, towards the door. Crowing when he reached the exit first, Demyx laughed, 'Last one there is a rotten egg!' Saxnnohn cackled and yelled back, 'You're on!' The game in play, they jostled their way out the door and began the race to Irenx's room.

* * *

Within the safe confines of her bed, Irenx continued tossing and turning. It had been 5 minutes since she had awakened by that evil, evil pyro and already her body was urging her to get up. Flinging off the covers with a shouted "GRAAAAAH!" of irritation, she stomped her way to her shoes, shoving them on before glaring about her room in an attempt to find the bathroom. Seeing nothing, she turned instead to the bamboo coffee table that held her valuable items. Mp3 player went in her left pocket just fine, but when she reached for her DS, she came to another problem. How was she suppose to cart it around when it was too big to fit in her pocket? With another of those weird sounding portal entrances happening behind her, Irenx turned to glare grumpily at whatever was about to interrupt her. To her mild surprise, it was only a Dusk. By now, she had gotten used to seeing them, zippered mouth, over emphasized butt cheeks, weird movements and all, so she wasn't startled when it spoke to her.

_You needed something, M'lady?_

This one was feminine sounding, so she guessed it must have been female as a human. It took her a moment to realize that it had come to help her and another moment to answer. 'Um, I need you to go get my messenger bag from my Somebody's house. It's blue-grey with a black buckle in the front. It should have a sketchpad or two, a first aid kit, and electronic stuff in the front zippered pouch.' With a stately bow of her head, the Dusk disappeared, leaving a staring Irenx to wait for her. Kicking herself mentally, Irenx realized she should've asked for the Dusk to bring her a brush too. She could feel the huge tangle in her hair that begged to be fixed. Stupid forgetfulness. Only a half a minute later, Irenx having just wandered about her room checking her belongings out, the Dusk reappeared, messenger bag in hand. Smiling, Irenx began to thank her, but the nobody disappeared once she had been relieved of her package. Opening the bag to make sure everything was in place, she was surprised to see that her things inside the bag had morphed to fit this world too. Both of her sketchpads, one for the art class her Other had been taking in school and the other for personal projects, had become silver and bound like spiral notebooks. The backs of both were stiff with very little flexibility to them, as if the cardboard had reinforced itself several times, and turned a darker silver than the front. The front bore the roman numeral VIII on its bottom with the Omega symbol (Ω) situated directly behind it. She guessed that must have meant something along the lines of "property of Number 8's apprentice". They could have just put her name on it.

Muttering to herself about the weird people in the Organization, not that she had much room to talk, Irenx had just shoved her DS into its pocket when two more Nobodies tumbled into her room, laughing and squalling and giggling at the same time. They apparently didn't notice at evil eye Irenx was giving them for Demyx bounced up, pointed at her hair and proceeded to make a comment that only Demyx could say. 'You're doing it wrong.', he chirped, an optimistic smile on his face. Saxnnohn hopped up from her place on the floor, cocking her head at the sight before her. Irenx's eyebrows contracted. 'What?', she asked after several seconds. Demyx was all too happy to explain further. 'The mullet. You're doing it wrong.', he stated, pointing at her bed head. Her stare turning frosty, Irenx growled, 'It's not a freakin' mullet! It's bed head, darn it!' Watching the mullet'd teen's mouth slowly form an "O" of realization, her bounded back into Axel's room. Her gaze turned to the watching Saxnnohn, her friend grinned and laughed, 'You has a mullet!' Going after her in mock anger, the two frolicked about the room before dashing into Irenx's mentor's room after Demyx.

The happy train eventually came to a stop, Irenx being confronted with a hairbrush Demyx waved in her face. Her head instinctively craned backwards to avoid it, but she took it all the same. She was about to begin to brush her hair with it, when she paused and asked, 'Whose is it?' Demyx shrugged. 'Just Axel's.' Shrugging back, she proceeded with the action.

* * *

Only minutes later, the rag tag group of three was galloping down towards the kitchen, ideas of mischief and mayhem already running rampant through their minds. Saxnnohn, whose new nickname happened to be Sox because Irenx and Demyx were tired of her hugely long name, and Irenx had a real bone to pick with Xemnas as it was. Here they were without much of anything beyond the objects that had transferred to the Organization with them and he expected them to be perfectly happy? Pfft! As if that would happen! So, what they had decided was that they needed to go to Wal-Mart. Yes, Wal-Mart. Such a store held everything they needed; from clothes to games to shoes, Wal-Mart was the place to go. Besides, they all needed to get out a little, right? They could go to one of the huge Wal-Marts in one of the big cities like LA or Miami or maybe Austin. Oh yes, she tasted chaos in the making. Resisting the urge to cackle, she bounded inside with her two "chaperones" and promptly pointed evilly at Axel. 'I'll get you yet for that!', she hissed before snickering, 'I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!' Here Saix looked at her and snarled, 'Is that suppose to be some cheap joke, apprentice?' Now it was Irenx's turn to appear confused and she pursed her lips. 'Nooo..?', she said slowly before being reminded of her plight by Sox doing the EPIC POINT at Xemnas and yelling, 'WAAAAAAAAAAAAL-MART!'

Xemnas glared at her in bewilderment and apprehension. What sort of crack had Demyx fed to these two? He would have to get Vexen to give them some blood tests soon. They obviously needed more sedatives or something. 'Excuse me?', he began before being interrupted by Irenx. 'We want to go to Wal-Mart! Cause, seriously, we have no other clothes to wear, we need more games for our DSes, and I'm bored.', she explained, gaze hopeful. Instantly, Xigbar stopped playing cards to stare wistfully at the Superior, Axel grinned childishly, Xaldin peered over, Saix turned to watch Xemnas like a slightly excited dog (Irenx almost swore she could see him wiggling), Demyx turned on his puppy eyes full force, and Zexion looked up questioningly. Under so many hopeful looks, it looked like Xemnas was going to prevent it just to be an butthole. He tapped his fingers slowly, continuing to debate. If he said no, then chances were Xigbar and Axel would lead half the Organization there anyway. The two apprentices would certainly go along with it and there was no doubt Demyx would too. Zexion would probably head to Barnes and Noble either way, so there wasn't much he could do about that one. Finally, with a deep breath he grumbled, 'Very well. Go change. We shall discuss our mode of travel once you have all reassembled.' Amidst cheers of glee, twelve portals open and swallowed up the members of the organization, leaving the already dressed apprentices to fend for themselves until everyone else returned. Glancing slyly at Irenx, Sox grinned. Upon catching her friend's eye, Irenx grinned back. 'We are make mischief?', Sox asked. 'Not mischief, make CHAOS!', Irenx cackled back, grabbing her bud's hand and bouncing about in a circle with her.

* * *

All were assembled after several minutes of absence and the more-or-less meeting began. It wasn't until everything had settled down and the discussion of how to get to Wal-Mart began that Irenx noticed how different everyone looked in normal clothes. Xemnas wore a dark brown turtleneck with a dark pair of slacks, easily looking the part of successful businessman on vacation. Xigbar was dressed in an odd mix of surfer and dress clothes. He had a nicely colored dress shirt on, burgundy with black stitching, with a pair of loose, dark jeans. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, as always, but now instead of his eye patch, he had on a bandana that was cleverly pulled over the side of his face. Xaldin had simply thrown on a grey wife beater and a pair of jeans. Vexen looked as though he had been dragged into this be Zexion or Marluxia, but had donned clothing similar to Xemnas'. His shirt was crisp and white, the whole thing ironed neatly. His slacks were equally well pressed and pristine. As Sox would have said, the whole outfit was "BOOOOOOORING" and monochromatic. Irenx would have liked to put a big spot of bright yellow mustard on his shirt. Lexaeus was not present, so Irenx could only assume he wasn't going. A slight movement caught her eye, however, and she at last noticed the Silent Hero. Standing patiently in the shadows, she almost hadn't noticed him in his dark brown muscle shirt. She almost snorted in amusement at that. The girls would be making fools of themselves to stare at him. Joy. She didn't bother to look at his pants, lest someone swoop in to take the opportunity to tell her to stop "checking him out", and instead glanced over at Zexion. When she had first seen him, she had thought he looked like some emo kid and based on his clothing style, he apparently didn't try to play away from that stereotype. His shirt was long sleeved with alternating stripes of light steel grey and dark blue grey. His pants were modest, black jeans that were neither tight nor loose but seemed to fit just right. Saix looked as though he had walked straight out of a mafia film dressed in his button down shirt, popped collar and all, and faded dress pants. She could almost picture him holding a Russian machine gun and telling them all to bow down in an Italian accent. Axel had happily taken the opportunity to sling on a pair of trip pants, pull his mass of spiky red hair back into a low pony, and proudly don an AC/DC t-shirt. Demyx was bounding about in an electric blue shirt that read "MUSIC IS MY LIFE" and wore a pair of white cut offs that had been made from baggy cargo pants. Sox bounced about beside him in her black and purple shirt and dark purple skinny jeans that matched her hair (purple with red tips), no doubt already planning their pranks. Luxord had taken the time to show off his British heritage by wearing a cream undershirt with a red sweater vest as well as dark brown pants. Marluxia was looking pink and girly as always and Irenx found it hard to believe he was male while he wore his pink shirt with "FASHION" written in black letters across the chest. Tight black pants were, of course, his choice. And last of the group, Larxenne, had chosen a bright yellow and orange halter top as well as white kapris.

'So, mode of transportation discussion has now begun.', Xemnas began calmly, instantly being trumped by a clamor of voices all screaming to be heard. Over the others' chattering, twin howls of ire rose up as Axel stamped his foot, glaring back at Xigbar who faced him equally. 'As IF! You got the Mini-Cooper last time!', Xigbar growled. 'Only because you ended up drunker than hell the night before we left!', Axel retorted. Catching onto the argument, Demyx pounded his fists on the table and hollered, 'ROCK PAPER SCISSORS!' Smirking, Axel whipped out his hands into the traditional RPS style and said, 'You're on, Xig!' His own hands flying into the timeless mortal-and-pestle-looking position and began the count off. 'One.. Two.. Three.. GO!', he bellowed. When the dust settled, he let out a wounded wail and stomped his foot. 'SO not cool, little dude! So. Not. Cool!', he harrumphed before sulking back into his chair. Before the reasonable discussion could continue, Demyx raised his hand cheerily and yelled, 'Shotgun!' Xigbar groaned audibly, having not been quick enough to claim a front seat, and grumbled something about his surfing van, headdesking quite firmly. Sighing irritably, Xemnas picked up where they had left off and it was eventually decided that Marluxia and Larxenne would ride in Larxy's VW Bug, Zexion, Vexen, and Lexaeus would ride in Lexaeus' Toyota pickup, Saix, Luxord, and Xemnas would take the Mercedes, Axel, Demyx, Irenx, and Sox would take the Mini-Cooper, and Xaldin and Xigbar would take Xigbar's old VW party van. The latter had tried to convince others to join him and Xaldin on it, but after Zexion said it probably smelt like year old compost and foot cheese, no one was quite keen on piling into the van.

It was decided that they would go through in 5 minute intervals to avoid attention from the humans that bustled and hustled about in the busy city of Honolulu. Why Xemnas had insisted on coming to Hawaii to shop, Irenx would never know, but judging from the covetous looks Demyx was giving the ocean, she figured he had probably annoyed the Superior until he had finally given in. Of course, Demyx wasn't the only one who was looking forward to swimming. Irenx had swiftly made up a list of things to get and one of those things was a swimsuit. She might be a fire elemental, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy swimming! A soft laugh caught her attention and she peered curiously out the windshield to see what had caused the driving red-head to snicker. Jaw dropping, Irenx poked Saxnnohn, who chortled and asked, 'Remember the last time we went to Wal-Mart?' Grinning wildly for her wordless answer, the two's eyes lit up with excitement at the beckoning doors of Wal-Mart.

'Chaos, disorder, and panic, here we come.', Irenx breathed to her friend, grinning wolfishly and rubbing her hands together with glee.


End file.
